The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-04-23
What Will They do with II,

| Ii il interesting Ia notice that the Re
| publicans who most depTecate agitation
| Of the tariff are those who most persis-
| tently agitate it, The obvious cxplann,
| ton of this fact Is that they have little
| else to agitate. During the canvass of
| 1884 their chief objection to the election
of Mr.. Cleveland. apart from the ridic-
ulous one that it would, in some myste-
| nous way. overturn the results of the
war for the Union. was that the Dem
| ocratic party would upset the tariff. go
| madly for free trade and ruin the trade.
manufactures and industry of the coun-
try. Nothing of the kind has happened
| and nothing of the kind has been pro
posed 10y the President or by the Dem
ocratic majority i'm the House Vet nm
der these conditions. with no serious
prospect of any positive Legislation of
any sort ON the subject Of the tariff, the
Republican leaders who come prom
inently before the people. and who un-
dertake any forecast of the ISSUES of the
canvass of the next year. ar" driven 10
disc the tariff.
The burden of their statements Is that
the surplus revenues must be spent.
That is practically the only suggestion
they have To make regarding the eXac-
tion of hundred millions "A year un-
necessarily from the earnings of the
&
even to consider the reduction of tax
alton. They agree in regarding that ~
something sacred that must not be-
touched. They do not discuss il from
any point of view taken by those who
imposed the tariff upon the nation.
They are forced, of course. to ignore the
requirements of the Treasury in time Of
war. which formed the chief excuse for
the tariff. for those requirements have
lan.y since ,...aEaI t,. .txiat mt.
nal taxes for which LIost of the tariff
duties were offsets have long since been
repealed. They say little or nothing
about protection to infant industries.
since the projected industries are no
longer i'm the infantile stage. They are
silent about ''diyersifying occupations
and furnishing markets for the prod
ucts of the soil. and all the favorito
phrases that have ceased to have any
force or attraction for the popular mind.
They content themselves with attribut-
ing all prosperity to protection and all
risk of depression Ia the possibility Of
free trade, and for the most part assume
that the tariff must stand and the sur
plus revenues be spent.
But what would they spend il for;
Granting that the people will waive the
| demand for reduction of taxation and
will patiently and even willingly go on
paying out of their earnings the hun
| dred millions the Government does NOT
need. to what objects would the Repub-
licans, were they again entrusted with
the National Government. devote these
millions: On this point the declarations
| of the leaders are silent or contradictory
At best they are very vague and indefi
mite. Undoubtedly pensions would. as
a matter Of fact, bo made to eat up the
greater part of the surplus. That is alb
solutely the only way Of spending money
for which there in demand from any
considerable number of people. and tht
| only one that can be presented with q
basis of plausible justification. But
does the Republican party expect Il
| carry the election on the issue of "A large
increase of pension payments; Ii does
| not seem reasonable. The facts are too
hopelessly against il. The vote of the
veterans of the war for the
| Union themselves would be, To say the
| least, doubtful, and that Of the country
generally, would be almost certainly all
| verse.
| The next most efficient drain To draw
off the surplus would be national aid
on a large scale to education. That will
not do. The country is clearly against
! il. The fate Of the Blair Bill decides the
question. The States could hardly bs
carried on that issue. The others Ger
tainly could not.
There remains only the policy of gen
eral liberal expenditures. ON the army
and navy. on coast defenses. on rivers
and harbors. on public buildings. This
| policy is sure 10 be re jected. IL does moi
appeal tO common sense. All the i'm
| pulses of the average voter are against IL
/ An opposition party seeking to overrur
a party on the ground that tine latter
does spend money enough and Is tryinl
| to reduce taxation cannot win. II tia,
Republicans really intend Ia go into th'
campaign Of lsss on any such issue theii
defeat will be sure in proportion as they
make the issue plain. At present they
| show no signs of having any other.